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Posts: 1674
Join Date: Jan 2008
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I've been in a writing mood lately. Already finished the next issue. Hope you guys like it...
“Everything happened quite suddenly. A man calling himself, Backlash and a woman who calls herself Whiplash have begun attacking citizens along the sidewalk of Raven Street. They are armed and considered extremely dangerous” the newswoman reported as she hid behind a white van.
Both of the attackers carried energy whips and protected themselves with round shields. They lashed out at passersby causing outbursts of surprise and yelps of pain. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for their behavior. Some of the wounded struck back swinging whatever they carried with them, briefcases and purses mostly, but these were easily turned aside by the attackers’ shields.
Out of nowhere a lone figure swooped into view. As she landed on the street, the wings of her flight pack automatically folded in upon themselves. The most distinguishable thing about her costume was the metallic bird shaped plate which covered her face. Her arrival seemed to aggravate the attackers even more and they turned their full attention upon her.
The energy whips lashed out together in a well practiced rhythm. First hers would strike then his and so on. The newcomer flipped out of the reach of these energy whips and fired off three shots from her wrist mounted energy blasters. The shields of her opponents took the impact of the blasts without a scratched and the two charged again.
The bird faced woman smiled as the two came closer. The fingers of her gloves shimmered slightly and then became razor sharp claws. She dove under the first whip and raked her claws across the woman’s thigh. Then she rolled away as the other whip came down at head. She fired off another energy blast from her wrist blasters and managed to strike a glancing blow to the man’s shoulder.
Officer Remus Vel’Kar was on the scene immediately “stand down Lunar” he shouted to the bird masked woman before he fired off his crimson energy only to have it absorbed by Backlash’s shield.
Nothing could withstand crimson energy or so he had been led to believe. This caught him off guard and in that instant he was struck with Whiplash’s energy whip. The jolt that went through his body sent his heart into cardiac arrest. He was dead within moments.
Cole took all this in as he and Lolita stepped out of the hotel and onto the sidewalk. He rushed over to Remus Vel’Kar’s side but there was nothing he could do. In fury he slipped the bracers off of the officer’s wrists and placed them around his own. They clamped together of their own accord and he felt the power flow through him, entering his mind in an effort to imbue him with the knowledge of their operation.
“Cole, be careful” Lolita cried out!
“Don’t worry about me, just find something to get behind” he shouted back.
The man turned towards Cole with a wicked looking grin on his face. He lashed out with his whip gauging Cole’s reaction speed. Without a second thought Cole leapt into the air using the bracers flying ability to get him well out of reach. Then he opened fire with maximum power. The man took the blast with his shield and then threw it at an arc that would decapitate Cole if it connected.
Cole dove under the shield and opened fire again. The man had no choice but to dive behind an overturned vehicle for cover as his shield was still airborne. Captain Cole Turner slammed into the vehicle with his fists obliterating it with his newfound superhuman strength. The man with the whip was frightened now and he lashed out desperately hoping to score a blow against this new threat.
However at that moment the bird woman was there ripping at the man with her claws shredding the tendons in his arm. This caused him to drop the energy whip. He fell to his knees in surrender as he looked around frantically for his partner. He saw her lifeless body propped up against a street lamp and screamed. His wife was dead and he was sure he’d be next.
But before that could happen, a squad of Midnighter’s, showed up the sirens on their hover bikes wailing. The bird masked woman made a quick exit on the wings of her flight pack leaving Cole there to deal with the authorities. He thought about fleeing for an instant but then realized he did nothing wrong.
“Hold it right there” one of the officers ordered “take off the bracers and prepare to be executed!”
“What the hell? I just helped stop these two criminals” Cole said concerned that he was about to be killed for doing the right thing.
“But you did it in the company of known fugitive Lunar Hawk” the officer replied “and you let her escape by distracting us upon our arrival.”
“Who’s Lunar Hawk? Oh the bird faced woman, she was only trying to help” he retorted.
Still his arguments didn’t dissuade the Avenger Corps and all seven of the officers on scene opened fire with their bracers set at maximum power. Lolita ran out of her hiding place and threw herself in the way of the blasts. Her blue body instantly became ash and was blown away in the breeze that was stirring. With no time to mourn, Cole didn’t want her sacrifice to be in vain so he leapt up into the sky and flew off as fast as the bracers would propel him.
Two of the officers followed Cole as he raced away from the city. He felt a pang of regret for the loss of Lolita. He had felt a connection between the two of them that he hadn’t felt with anyone ever. Somehow he had known that the two of them would have stayed together even after the night was over. Her sacrifice confirmed how much she actually cared about him.
As anger swelled over him he unleashed crimson energy behind him trying to hit the two pursuing Avengers. One of them rolled out of the way of the blast but into the other one causing them to become tangled together. This loss of concentration caused the two to plummet from the sky and become lost in the mass of buildings below.
Then Cole heard a familiar voice in his ear “it is okay my love, I am safe” he turned his head from side to side but he was alone up here in the clouds other than a few birds.
“Where?” he asked the question aloud as he stopped and hovered in midair.
“I am the breeze” the voice replied “the crimson energy may have destroyed my body but my spirit remains intact. It is another of my race’s innate abilities. In time my body will be reborn and we can be together again.”
“What should I do now?” Cole asked as he weighed his options.
“Seek out Lunar Hawk, she can help you return to your own time.”
“But what about you?”
“I will be whole again before you leave and we can go together” she whispered and then she was gone.
He had no idea where to start his search for this Lunar Hawk. But he had a feeling that she would show up again whenever there was trouble. He would just have to keep his eyes and ears open for any signs. Until then he needed to find shelter. Cole knew he couldn’t return to Midnight City but he also didn’t know what other cities were nearby. Desert surrounded the city and went for miles in every direction.
Reason suggested that Lunar Hawk must have a safe house either in Midnight City or nearby in the desert. He would just go out for thirty miles and circle the city at that distance. Maybe he would find the safe house or at least someplace he could take shelter. Several hours later he found what he was looking for.
Cole had almost overlooked it because it blended in so well with the landscape. But one of the sand dunes was manmade. As he approached the heavily concealed entrance an automated security system became active and a robotic voice spoke “halt right there or be vaporized.”
He stopped warily and looked into the camera that was set above the doorway “I was just looking for shelter” he said holding his hands up in a sign of surrender.
The door slowly slid away to reveal a darkened hallway. Then a figure stepped out from within. Lunar Hawk stood there looking Cole over and then she motioned for him to follow her inside. He did so, cautious of any hidden traps that might lie in wait.
“What are you doing here?” Lunar Hawk asked.
“Looking for you” Cole replied “I was told you could help me get home.”
“Do I look like a travel agent?”
“No” he answered honestly “but I’m not from this time. I came from the past and I have no way back.”
“Why would I help you? The ATTA would detect any attempt at time travel in an instant and we’d both be killed.”
“There has to be a way, I don’t want to be trapped here forever!”
“What is wrong with being here?” she asked this time “other than the Avengers Corps being overly aggressive that is?”
“Why is that anyway?”
“It started a thousand years ago. In 2155 Jonathon Dark the eighth founded Midnight City in memory of a hero named Captain Midnight that fought alongside his ancestor Jonathon Dark Jr. back in 2009. The city was supposed to embody justice in every sense of the word. Buildings and streets were even named after other heroes of that same time. Raven Street where we fought those criminals was named after a hero of Nighthaven. “
The name Captain Midnight seemed to mean something to Cole but he could not quite place where he knew the name from. 2009 was 73 years after the experiment that sent him here so he couldn’t have known the man. The name gnawed at him though as if it was very important to his own life. He looked over and caught Lunar Hawk staring at him in curiosity.
“Sorry I drifted off there for a second” he said in reply to the look “but what happened to turn the city against time travel?”
“The original ATTA detected a wormhole that led to an alternate dimension. In this world everything was the opposite of what it is here on Earth. It was labeled the Negaverse for this reason. All of our heroes were villains over there and vice versa. So the ATTA of that dimension had opened the wormhole in an attempt to invade our universe” here she paused to take a deep breath before continuing “so the American Time Travel Agency began opening time portals and bringing in heroes from every era to help us in the battle.”
“But that’s a good thing right?”
“In theory yes, however bringing all these heroes to this time at once caused the time stream to become unstable. Our universe began to collapse in upon itself. If it wasn’t for the efforts of John Martin, the Time Rider, Earth as we know it would have ceased to exist.”
“So the disaster was averted.”
“Yes and we managed to repel the invasion force. But the government took this as a sign that messing with the time stream was too dangerous. The Avenger Corps were created to help the Agency for Time Travel Annihilation to round up all time travel devices and destroy them. Anyone caught using them would be destroyed. After that the Avenger Corps also became the sole law enforcement agency of Midnight City as well and kept the mentality of destroying the criminals rather than arresting them.”
“So what do you have to do with all this?”
“The Dark legacy is mine to uphold. Jonathon Dark Jr. who was also known as Shadow Hawk is my ancestor. Each member of my family since has taken up the Hawk as a symbol of our duty to protect the innocent. The Midnighter’s hate us because we try to leave the criminals alive when possible.”
“But, the woman this morning?”
“Regrettably she gave me no choice.”
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Duo attack. Lolz
